1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sentence dividing programs, sentence dividing apparatuses, and sentence dividing methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, when a very typical sentence is divided, a very appropriate result may not be obtained, undesirably, as a whole sentence. More specifically, for example, since “a system that divides a sentence according to a superficial clue” only divides a sentence according to a partial superficial clue, such a system cannot cope with ambiguity of a sentence structure. As a result, the system cannot obtain a very appropriate division result as a whole sentence. In addition, for example, since “a system that divides a sentence according to grammar rules” only executes sentence structure analysis according to the grammar rules to divide a sentence, such a system cannot divide the sentence according to a typical characteristic. As a result, the system cannot obtain a very appropriate division result as a whole sentence. Additionally, for example, since “a system that performs translation using typical patterns” only previously creates typical patterns whose noun phrase is treated as a variable part, a hit rate of an input sentence matching a typical pattern is low in the first place.
In addition, as described below, in addition to the foregoing disadvantages, there is a disadvantage that very typical sentences cannot be divided simply and flexibly in the above-described related art. More specifically, for example, in “a system that divides a sentence according to grammar rules”, since a person who can create the grammar rules is limited to a developer familiar with the system, the grammar rules are built in the system and provided. In such a case, since users of the system cannot modify the grammar rules according to a typical characteristic and also cannot create grammar rules regarding new types of sentences not supported by the system, the very typical sentences cannot be divided simply and flexibly.
Additionally, as described below, there is a disadvantage that an optimum candidate cannot be selected when a plurality of division candidates are obtained as a result in the above-described related art as well as the foregoing disadvantages. More specifically, for example, when a sentence is compared with typical patterns in “a system that performs translation using the typical patterns”, there are cases where a plurality of typical patterns are retrieved. In such a case, the system cannot select an optimum typical pattern.
Furthermore, as described below, there is a disadvantage that long sentences cannot be handled in the above-described related art as well as the foregoing disadvantages. More specifically, when general sentence structure analyzing systems related to, for example, “a system that divides a sentence according to grammar rules” employ a method for finding dividing positions after executing sentence structure analysis of a whole sentence, such systems fail in the sentence structure analysis if the sentence is long. As a result, the systems cannot divide the sentence.